About
Welcome to The Garage. Just like a real garage, we keep all sorts of cool things in The Garage. You’ll find stories, reviews, news, pictures and other stuff about cars and other things we might find in any garage.
Contact info
Do you have any tips or ideas for things we should cover here in The Garage? If so, the easiest way to reach us is by e-mail at thegarageguy @ rogers.com
What do I know about cars? Why would you care?
There are a lot of so called experts in the wonderful world of the automobile. While I hardly consider myself an expert, cars have been an undeniable force in my life, since before I was born.
In the late Sixties and early Seventies, my dad was an active road racer up here in Ontario, meaning that baby Gary was dragged around all over the place. The smell of hot Castrol R was burned into my brain and left a lasting impression.
Growing up, I hung out with the Ranta family & spent many summers turning wrenches on race karts and travelling to tracks all over Ontario. The Ranta garage was a favourite place for me, with possibly the coolest collection of air cooled wonders imaginable. Including a very early Porsche 901, a Hebmuller, a couple of Corvairs and assorted rear engine Volkswagens.
In high school, my buddies and I built a few VW GTI’s to various levels of tune and I began my own competition career with a few auto crosses and navigational rallies. In the late eighties and into the Nineties, the lovely & talented Mrs. Grant and I crewed for a couple of teams in the Firehawk series and regional racing, along with a couple of performance rally teams. At the same time, we were busy racking up miles on the car doing navigational rallies and solo 1 & 2. Eventually we ended up pairing up in a Swift GTi performance rally car. Today, the competitive efforts have returned to karting as we coach our 12 year old at the Mosport Kart Club.
On the professional side, I’ve spent 22 years working in the retail side of the auto industry. For the last 9 years, I’ve been a Service Manager in a variety of new car dealerships.
Through all of this, I’ve kept my obsession with cars and car racing alive. For the past few years I’ve been happy to be able to share my passion with the world through TheGarageBlog.com
Growing up in Connecticut, Tom was lucky to have neighbors that actually drove their vintage Ferrari’s and that V-12 wail must have done a bit of damage somewhere because he has devoted a good amount his adult life writing about cars. In the past, Tom reviewed cars for Philadelphia’s Suburban Express and Westport News in Connecticut.
Tom’s daily driver is a Civic SI, but on the weekends he attacks those coastal roads in his ‘76 Porsche 911S. Lucky bastard!
Tom usually covers the auto industry stuff that bores Gary to tears and does a damn fine job. As the weather gets warmer, he has promised to take us on road trips to car shows across the North East. Tom can be reached at bayviewwilliams1 at yahoo.com
Gary & Tom are members of
How does one describe Gary Faules? While it may sound a tad cliche or outdated, calling Gary a true renaissance man would not be out of place. Fisherman, hunter, race car driver, writer, entrepreneur and mechanic, Gary has excelled at all of these. Oh yeah, did I mention he was an Olympian too? So what is this guy doing in The Garage? Sharing his passion for everything automotive.
From his humble beginnings as a pit assistant for Dick Smothers’ Formula car back in the Sixties all the way to winning the famed Mil Cumbres stage at the La Carrera Panamericana race, Gary has been deeply immersed in auto racing. Along the way, he has become friends with some of the biggest icons in North American motor racing which guarantees some pretty cool stories for our readers. That’s him up above with the great Phil Hill.
We are more than please that Gary takes the time to share his thoughts on whatever automotive topics that cross his mind. In addition to being an active competitor, Gary is a student of history and often shares stories of racing in the early days of American racing.
When he’s not here in The Garage, Gary is filling the pages of his La Carrera blog.
Allan De La Plante has been shooting hard core sports since the early Seventies, following the Grand Prix circus and the Canadian downhill ski racers known around the world as the Crazy Canucks. He has published books on topics ranging from Pope John Paul II to firefighters and cooking over fire. Perhaps his crown jewel though is the masterfully written, brutally honest book about his good friend from rural Quebec who set the world on fire behind the wheel of a Ferrari.
To purchase one of Allans books or book a speaking engagement you can visit him online.
{ 43 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi garage guy, i like the new look of your blog, you did a great job. Everything looks like its working good so far.
I will check it out more in the morning.
See Yeah!
Thanks Brian, We are very happy with the way things are progressing here.
Hey Gary,
I’ve been entertained by your site for some time now…it’s just excellent for us car guys.
With the holidays approaching, I’m writing to ask if you see some way for my company to get involved with your site. We’re an automotive gift company. Take a look at our e-tail site listed above to gather a sense of our line.
Our core business is servicing catalog companies like California Car Cover etc but do a lot of direct sales via the web.
Thanks!
Warren
Almost There!, Inc.
730 Elrod Rd. , Suite B
Prescott, AZ 86305
928-708-0897
What’d you do to your site?!? It’s almost too slick. Got any grease cloth?
No grease cloth here…just lots of sweat!
we’ve been working hard and are pretty proud of the latest version. now if i can just find the time to post as often as i’d like….
Hi Gary:
Nice site you’ve built.
Jim Kenzie deserves congratulations for again winning the Targa Open division. As do the winners of the Classic and Modern divisions. But he and Brian did not win the event outright.
See http://www.rallyscoring.com/results/2006/Targa/Targa06Press0.htm
great catch Nav. That’s what happens when one is concentrating on too many things at once.
i’ll fix it up later today.
Heya Gary,
Nice to hear from you!
Spending much time at NTC these days? I’ve been a little too busy to drop by very much.
Take care,
Zoic
Hey Travis,
I drop in every couple of days, but don’t interact very often these days. too many other things on the go.
Gary… Great auto blog! Please stop by and add it to our new dynamic directory. http://www.outpost-earth.com
Gary, this blog is amazing, and while I can never seem to find to much info on the Swift GTi you ran, would it be possible to get more information on this? As an aspiring (to be) rally novice, and with my love of the Pontiac/Chevrolet Firefly/Sprint turbo cars as well as the Suzuki Swift GTi, it would be awesome to find more info on your racing history!
This was one of 11 cars put together by Suzuki Canada by the Sprongls. Essentially they were copies of the car that Ari Montenen brought to Canada from Finland, with a few minor changes. The cars were sold cheap, cheap, cheap, as in about $12,000 including all safety equipment etc. They were ready to rally. The idea was that they would run a single make series, but then Suzuki was forced to pull their support by the home company.
There are still a couple of cars competing in Ontario. Our old car is apparently in pieces in a garage somewhere. I’d love to get it back.
Would it be possible Gary to get ahold of you (by e-mail perhaps) if you have anymore specific information pertaining to your Swift (just basic information about the cars, what it was like to rally it, etc etc). My e-mail is aevokes at shaw dot ca if you are interested in parting with any knowledge you have!
Gary: Tripped over your site while searching Harewood. Went to it thru DAC Trillium races. I ran in the 60’s and then crewed for Bruce Jensen for years and then Judy Ferchat (now Irwin and separated but business partners and friends). Knew Bud quite well and often was in the ski shop. Drove a MGA, several MGB’s and finally my Elva Mk6. I see you are on the Motorsport.com forum. You should have a look at 10/10ths motorsport forum site
That’s cool that you were so close. You must have seen me running around as a little kid then.
I’ll shoot Bud an e-mail and get him in on this conversation.
Gary: Check out www. orilliapacket.com Fri. for the story on Len Campbell and his boat: former FF and F Atlantic driver. This is about part 4.
I have posted on http://www.race-cars.com earlier with part one. Wed. Packet also has a story on it and can probably be found in their archives.
Gary: It was front page main headline in Fri. edition. If you look today scroll down to local news last 3 editions. It is the bottom item. I expect the earlier stories are now in their pay archives.
Gary,
Great site! I’d like to add a link to it on my site, and am wondering if you might consider doing the same for me. Check my photos out at http://web.mac.com/brittkrebs/
Thanks,
Britt
Hey Britt,
Great work. I’ve added you to the Car Shooter category.
Gary,
Great Blog! I’ve enjoyed reading it very much
- Mike
Hey Mike! Thanks & welcome to The Garage.
Very nice site Gary; from one car car to another, you deserve a congratulatory “pat on the back”. Rob Wagle from The X Garage
Thanks Robert,
It looks like you’ve been hard at work too!
Welcome to The Garage.
Hey Gary, excellent website. Its always great to see a fellow enthusiast interested in the right things.
Have you had the chance to get any track time yourself? If so we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Hey Henry,
Welcome to The Garage & thanks for the compliment.
Have a look at the IMPA test days posts. Finally after 15 years away, I finally got back on track.
Gary,
Really enjoying your car reviews. They are easy to understand and I think they really hit home with the typical car buyer…who in my opinion, doesn’t want all the gear head details, just the facts. Especially like your reviews on hybrid vehicles!
Jeff
Had a brief scan of your blog — and I like it, will read more later, cheers Charles.
Thanks Charles. Welcome to The Garage!
Hey Gary! Thanks for mentioning about my experience on the new Honda Stream at your site! How did you discover my blog, may I ask?
Your blog is very informative and will add you to my blogroll. I would like to know about the motoring scene in Canada too. This is my first time at your blog and I dont recall whether i visited your blog before.
Once again, thanks for quoting my name and blog at your latest post on the CoW. Also, may I know what CoW is all about? Is it a printed publication ?
THanks and cheers, Gary.
Hey Andy, You submitted your post to the Carnival of Wheels, through blogcarnival.com In other words, you found me!
Thanks for the compliments.
I believe i have the car you are talking about. i have rebuilt the engine but have not competted with it yet. i am in the process of trying to compete in the Targa Newfoundland next year. i will begin to prep it in august or september this for next year.
Gary: You should have a look at racingforum.ca/
Quite a lot of interesting posts, mostly racing but lots of other stuff, including things like resturant reviews. See if you can figure out what I post as. Shouldn’t be hard. See if you can guess who Marcomac is. He is an ex FA driver and his dad and late uncle were Can Am regulars. Racefan is a BEMC official and his dad is an ex sprite racer who now is often Clerk of the Course for BEMC.
Small # of posters but we also have fun with each other.
Ask your dad if he remembers Gord Green. Judy and I will probably go over to Haliburton to see him this weekend depending on weather. Also ask about Bob Long. He is now in his 70’s and won the 3/4 litre championship this year. Turns 1.27’s at Mosport.
Have fun at the Tall Pines!
Gary: You have a fairly wide readership in Ont., so just a suggestion.
An article on the meaning of a flashing green light on a vehicle. Very few people in the On. major cities know that it is a volunteer fireman on a call. They are used to the red lights but not the green.
Even mid sized cities like Orillia have volunteer firemen in addition to full timers. Small towns and the Townships may have a full time chief and maybe one other full time. Many townships including Tay, where I live are 100% volunteer. We have 4 firehalls with one being rural and the others in Port McNicoll, Victoria Harbour and Waubaushene all communities of 1500 to 700 people.
When we get the cottage people in the summer and ski/snowmobile people in the winter very few know about the green lights. It has never been well advertised.
Nice job on the site, Gary. Your content has a nice mix to keep it interesting. I’m a club racer, car junkie, and amateur blogger, giving it a try at RacingOnTheCheap.com. I look forward to your checking out your site daily.
Take care, Troy
Hey Gary!
Been subscribed to your RSS for a while. I just noticed your Twitter This button. How are you doing that? Plug-in? Service?
-Josh
Thanks for subscribing Josh. I’ll let you know.
Hi Gary,
How are you? I was trying to contact you by e-mail but the message came back.
I was just wondering if you think that you can link to my site also. If you consider that is good stuff that you can share with others on this blog I would appreciate.
Kind regards,
Radu Repanovici
You must have had the address wrong. Try thegarageguy at rogers.com
I’ll put a link up for you shortly.
Gary: You may not remenber him but your dad sure would. Francis Bradley, Canada’s fastest bus driver, (TTC) the 1962 driving champion passed away on the weekend. He drove a Porsche RS60, Lola Mk1 Climax and Lotus 19 Climax, the last the car he won the championship in. After that he drove sedans.
Norris MacDonald in the Star has a story on him.
I, and I am sure your dad, were in some of the same events as Francis although never in the same race in my case. By the time I was in Sports Racing cars Francis was in tin tops.
He was a real gentleman.
Why did I think that he passed away a couple of years ago?
Supercool and informative.
New Years bring many good things, the new Garage is a good thing and I appreciate everyone’s efforts. It seems as though you have found a niche. The comments are coherent and certain, unlike those found at other more popular “auto blogs” or “jalopy’s”. Thanks
Russ LaHart
Lake Placid, NY
Thanks Russ! We’ve got some pretty special readers providing those comments!